-+Rivals+- A Lando Norris Fanfic

Chapter 31

Two Days Later

It was finally the day of Practice 1 and I was pretty nervous. When Lando wasn't in my room, I kept trying out if I could take a step on my foot. Spoiler alert: it's a big fat no. I know the doctor was saying that I wouldn't be able to walk on it for 6-8 weeks, and my doctor at home agreed with the diagnosis, I refused to believe it. I haven't really had an ankle or foot injury that's really inhibited me from driving, and I was still refusing to succumb to it. Broken toes are no big deal, you can just kinda use the ball of your foot on the throttle instead and your toes will be fine. Broken fingers kinda suck but you can kinda work around it in an uncomfortable way. My injury in Formula 3 I was able to recover enough by the next time I had to drive, so it didn't really affect me. This is the first time I'm actually suffering and struggling.

Penelope had ruled that I do the track walk in the wheelchair, so I wasn't sore from using the crutches on the whole 3.73 mile track. That means I have no excuses today. Well, except my foot. But I'm determined to not use that as a scapegoat.

I've been really apprehensive about the track today, worried about crashing the car again. I've already crashed 3 times, I can't afford to keep crashing it or the team will hate me. Baku can be a very difficult track so I really need to buckle down and focus.

Penelope knocked on my door. "Ready to head out?"

"As ready as I'll ever be!" I chirped, grabbing my backpack and slinging it on the back of my chair.

"How's it feel?" She asked.

"Way better, can barely feel a thing," I reassured her.

"Hmmm," She narrowed her eyes at me before grabbing the back of my chair to wheel me out. "Only a couple fan appearances today, and then you've got a briefing with the mechanics. They want opinions."

"My opinions suck though," I protested.

"You're the one driving the car, I'd say that means your opinions are gold," She said, patting my shoulder.

The ride to the track was relatively uneventful. Lando texted me a good morning/good luck text at one point, so I had texted one back.

We finally arrived at the track, and Penelope wheeled me over to where my first appearance would be, and it was pretty straightforward for most of it. At the end is when the interviewer started annoying me.

"Has racing come in the way of your dating life?" He asked. "Lots of the guys on the grid have girlfriends and wives, but we've never seen anything about you dating."

I saw Penelope give me a look, and I took a breath. "Right now my main focus is racing, not guys. Which should be your guys' main focus as well," I plastered a fake smile on my face.

When Penelope was wheeling me away, she leaned down and whispered, "If you announce who your boyfriend is, you know questions like that will just get worse."

"Yea, yea. Still annoying though," I groaned.

I saw the interview. You aren't focused on me?? D:, Lando texted. Totally joking. He sent back immediately.

I am focused on you; focused on DESTROYING YOU! I sent.

But how can you do that when I'm the superior driver?

Simple: You ain't. I texted.

Lando texted me back a heart emoji and I made it to the hospitality lounge.

"Lunaaaaaaaa, how's it goin?" A mechanic asked me.

"Fine and dandy," I said with a smile.

"Liar," He scoffed. "We wanna discuss your preferences for this weekend."